Pune: The Maharashtra State Council of Examination (MSCE) will implement strict security measures and involve artificial intelligence, CCTV cameras and frisking of candidates for the state Teacher Eligibility Test on Sunday.
The exam council has undertaken the series of safety measures, following occurrence of exam malpractices in earlier TET examinations.
The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) will be Maharashtra’s first public exam wherein AI tools will monitor every movement of candidates, supervisors and others, with immediate warning messages to control centres in case of malpractices. As many as 16,000 CCTV cameras have been set up at 1,023 exam centres for surveillance. For the first time, candidates will be frisked before entering the classrooms. Over 3.5 lakh candidates will appear for the exam in two sessions on Sunday.
MSCE chairman Nandkumar Bedse said students must arrive at their allotted exam centres an hour and half before the exam. Paper I will start at 10.30am and entry will be allowed latest till 10.10am. Paper II will begin at 2.30pm and entry will be allowed maximum till 2.10pm.
The last TET exam was held on Nov 21, 2021, and written by 4,68,679 candidates. The upcoming exam on Nov 10 is the eighth TET exam, with 3,53,937 candidates registered from across the state. There are 1,15,626 male, 2,37,417 women and nine transgender candidates. There are 4,887 students with disabilities registered too.
The council has planned to use advanced technology to screen each candidate before allowing them into the exam centre. “They will be checked through face reading and biometrics based on information provided during registration. Any discrepancies will result in immediate action. CCTV cameras have been installed in every classroom at each exam centre. A war room will monitor all centres state-wide,” said Bedse, during a press conference on Friday.
If a supervisor remains stationary for more than five minutes, the AI technology will issue an alert to the control room. Additionally, systems are in place to investigate if more than 30 individuals are present at a centre or classroom.
Officials claimed that even the Maharashtra Public Service Commission has not yet conducted an exam using such thorough methods. The TET exam will be held at 1,023 centres across the state, with CCTV cameras installed at 18,000 locations — including classrooms, centres, director offices, entrances and exits.
There are two papers — one for teachers of classes I to V and another for classes VI to VIII. The TET 2019 exam had come under the scanner after the Pune cyber police stumbled upon a scam in which candidates had paid Rs50,000 to Rs2 lakh to alter their scores or obtain fake pass certificates.
Medium-wise distribution:
Marathi: 2,74,435
English: 21,588
Urdu: 17,659
Hindi: 39,302
Bengali: 115
Kannada: 799
Telugu: 14
Gujarati: 25
Sindhi: 0
